


Together 'til the end

by swimmiNgDiNosauR



Series: Telephone Calls [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cuddling, Philinda Phone Calls, telephone call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 04:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14824896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swimmiNgDiNosauR/pseuds/swimmiNgDiNosauR
Summary: Melinda calls Phil. She's only a minute walk away from him. Something's wrong.





	Together 'til the end

They’re all crowded onto the couches in the common room, laughing. Coulson’s pretty sure Elena’s drunk and Fitz and Simmons are definitely tipsy. Daisy seems to be just past tipsy but not quite drunk. He and Mack are the only sober ones. He looks around for Melinda and then reminds himself that she hasn’t joined them, instead opting to stay in her bunk. He doubts she’s even in her bunk, probably piled under a mountain of paperwork that he keeps putting aside. He smiles, a little wistfully.

“Thinking of someone special, AC?” Daisy crows, waggling her eyebrows.

He knows she means Melinda.

“Please never do that again,” he says instead, referring to the eyebrow thing. She’s barely pulled it off. Melinda, however, had managed to pull it off every time she used it, usually after an innuendo or sexual comment. She’d once managed to make him spill his beer all down his suit.

“Aw,” Daisy complains. “Not gonna share?”

“C’mon, Director,” Elena slurs. “You gonna go get Melinda, bring her back here? She seems lonely.”

Even drunk, Elena is still annoyingly perceptive.

“She can join us when she’s ready,” he says. His phone buzzes in his pocket but he ignores it. It’s nearly midnight – whoever’s calling can wait until the morning.

“You gonna get that?” Daisy asks, nodding towards his pants pocket.

Coulson sighs. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. As soon as he sees the caller ID he regrets trying to ignore it. His face pales. This can’t be anything good. Melinda would never call him if they were in the same base, and only several minutes away. He answers, moving away from his team so he can hear her.

“Melinda? Are you okay?” he asks worriedly. “Where are you?” He hears her sniff. His heart plummets. “What’s wrong? Melinda?” he asks desperately.

“Can you come get me?” she mumbles and he can hear the despair in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he says immediately. “Where are you?”

“Lab,” she says quietly.

He raises his eyebrows and she must have some sort of superpower because she tells him to shut up, almost silently. “Okay, I’m on my way now.”

“Don’t let them do anything stupid,” he tells Mack.

“Where are you going? Is it May?” Mack questions, taking a long sip of his beer.

Coulson hesitates before nodding. “I might not come back.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just give them all a blanket,” Mack shrugs.

Coulson grins before speed-walking out of the common room towards the lab. It takes him all of two minutes to find her. She’s curled up in a ball in the corner of the lab. He kneels down in front of her.

“Melinda? Are you okay?” he asks, touching her knee gently.

Her leg jerks before she manages to get herself under control. She looks up at him tearfully.

“Phil,” she mumbles, stretching her hand out and touching him, his face, his arms, his chest. Anywhere she can reach.

“Was it a nightmare?” he asks, realising she’s making sure he’s still alive. “It’s ok–”

“ _Phil_ ,” she wails, holding her head in her hands, rocking back and forward. “You can’t die.” She sniffs, looking up him through wet eyes. “I just got you back.” She grips his shirt tightly and clings to him. He wraps his arms around her.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promises. “You and me, together ’til the end. I’m never gonna leave your side.”

Her shoulders shake as she sobs into his shirt. “Don’t leave me,” she pleads. “Please don’t leave me again.”

Coulson holds her tighter, stroking her hair with one hand. He wishes he could take away all her pain with a wave of his hand. She deserves so much better than this. He sits down beside her and she climbs over him, settling between his legs. He wraps his arms around him and she clutches his hand. They fall asleep like that, sitting in the corner of the lab, curled up together.

 

 

 

 

 

And if Jemma wakes up in the morning with a slight hangover and goes to the lab for an aspirin, well, let the record show that she never told anyone.


End file.
